Local Blackout Not Working; Krasner's Corruption Now A National Story

By Ralph Cipriano
for BigTrial.net

The Philadelphia Inquirer sure has D.A. Larry Krasner's back.

Our so-called local "paper of record" has repeatedly turned a blind eye to Krasner's corruption and the disastrous consequences of his "reform" policies that only benefit criminals by emptying the jails.

But on a national level, Law Enforcement Today [LET], the national cop website with nearly 40,000 followers on Twitter and another 11,000 on LinkedIn, has now reprinted verbatim a half-dozen recent Big Trial stories exposing Krasner.

The most recent spate of bad publicity for Krasner began on Jan. 23rd, when LET ran a story about the career burglar who had 184 charges against him dropped "thanks to cop-hating District Attorney." Not only did Krasner drop all the charges emanating from 27 burglary cases, but all those charges were also expunged forever from the criminal's record.

On Twitter, "Stinky Feat" sounded the alarm about the mysterious disappearance of criminal records  and the "systematic dismantling of law and order" now taking place in Philadelphia under Krasner.

Another commentator, NDJ, was not as subtle, equating the D.A. to an emoji of a smiling pile of
excrement.

A day later, LET trumpeted the story about Movita Johnson-Harrell, the corrupt, recently resigned state legislator on her way to prison who, while she was working in the D.A.'s office last year, used her political connections with her "Uncle Larry" to keep her son out of jail.

Donte Lee Johnson had gone to the woman's place of employment, lured her outside, pushed her around, pulled her hair and punched her in the mouth, drawing blood. He was arrested by two cops who responded to a call about a woman screaming in the streets.

But when the case went to trial, the DA's office failed to call [or notify] the victim, as well as a witness, and the two cops who investigated the case and arrested Johnson. So a judge, at the D.A.'s request, dismissed an assault charge against Johnson.

Justice in Philadelphia Krasner style; the victim gets hosed, the criminal gets off.

"Unbelievable," wrote Steve Bandura on Twitter. He called on the U.S. Attorney to investigate, adding, "There is much intent to commit a crime here."

"This case should be sent to the FBI," agreed Sgt. Kung Fu.

Finally, on Monday, LET ran the Big Trial story about the anti-Krasner rally they're holding tomorrow night in South Philly under the headline: "Explosion of crime and lack of prosecution forces citizens to demand D.A.'s removal."

"Crime rates are skyrocketing and criminals are walking free," editorialized LET. "Concerned citizens are making their voices heard. Let's stand with them."

A photo that accompanied the story showed a sheepish Krasner looking the other way while a burglar smashed his way through a glass door.

The photo caption: "Crime is increasing . . . but Krasner is letting criminals go as fast as police can arrest them."

Meanwhile, Search Warrant, the cop-hosted podcast, has been blasting away on a daily basis against Krasner.

It looks like Larry Krasner and Jane Roh's "'firewall' has been breached again . . . at the national level," Search Warrant crowed about the national spotlight now on Krasner.

Of course, down at the D.A.'s office, D.A. Krasner has had the same response to every Big Trial story; both he and his alleged spokesperson, Jane Roh, have stonewalled every time, always refusing to comment.

I mean can you blame them? Of course D.A. Krasner and Ms. Roh would prefer to deal with their fellow Progressives down at the Inky.

As a courtesy, however, on Jan. 25th, I sent both Krasner and Jane Roh an email, notifying them that both the burglar story and the Movita story had gone national.

"You might want to reconsider your policy of stonewalling," I wrote. "It doesn't appear to be working."

In the interests of journalism, I also have continued a less-than-fruitful dialogue with Gabriel Escobar, editor and vice president of the Inquirer.

The dialgoue began last November, when I asked Escobar why the Inquirer was killing negative stories about Krasner.

"Without getting into our decision on any particular piece, we assess every possible story on its own merits," he wrote. "A close and objective assessment of our coverage would show there is no such pattern regarding the district attorney or his office, and that we in fact have applied more scrutiny to the new district attorney, and his new policies and impact than any news outlet."

On Jan. 24th, I wrote Escobar back and pointed out that although he and his crack staff were applying more scrutiny to the D.A. than any other news outlet, somehow, they had missed the stories about the career burglar going free, and Movita Johnson-Harrell getting her son off the hook on that assault charge.

I also mentioned some other stories prominently featured on Big Trial, such as the two-time killer that Krasner let out of jail because of a $25 traffic ticket. And the story about Krasner's office trying to get a detective who investigated a cop-involved fatal shooting and exonerated the officer to change his story, so the D.A.'s office could prosecute the cop for murder.

In response, the detective filed a civil rights suit against the D.A.'s office in U.S. District Court, alleging that the D.A. had violated the detective's constitutional rights by convening a grand jury against him, and threatening him with arrest, all because he wouldn't perjure himself.

"All of these stories were taken from court records," I wrote Escobar. "I really fail to understand why you're not covering this stuff."

Like Krasner and Roh, Escobar hasn't gotten back to me yet. Maybe that's because they're all playing for the same team.

Ralph Cipriano can be reached at ralph@bigtrial.net.